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UNIVERSITY 72, NEW LIVING WORD 21

HOW THE GAME WAS WON

A close game early on, University Academy won the battle of Lady Lions with a 72-21 rout over New Living Word.

UA went inside to the duo of ReJayla Williams and Jordyn Cross to pound NLW as they each topped the 20-point mark Friday.

With NLW dressing just five players — the starters — and not having a bench, it was tough from the get-go as a fresher UA earned the victory.

GAME NOTES

New Living Word came into Friday’s game as the defending champion in Division V. NLW automatically made it to the state tournament in Hammond last year as the No. 1 seed and won its two playoff games by an average of 41 points.

“Twin towers”: The backbone of University’s team is the senior duo of ReJayla Williams and Jordyn Cross and neither of whom failed to disappoint as Williams scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Cross added 21 points, eight assists and five rebounds

“Little Jordon”: Although Williams and Cross will probably follow in the footsteps of current New Orleans sophomore Jada Swafford in playing collegiate basketball, UA coach Craig Whittington has another player on the rise in freshman Jordon Seimones. Seimones scored 17 points and showed off her range from halfcourt during halftime of the boys game — drilling 3 of 5.

UA also defeated New Living Word in the boys game, winning 60-59 over the perennial state championship contender. Kamron Sykes led the way with 14 points, while Jaylen Walker was not far behind with 13.

STANDOUTS

QUOTABLES

University coach Craig Whittington: “We knew tonight that they were going to pick up 10, 15 wins this season, and we know it would be a big game for us. We knew that they expected to win, but we also knew that they lost a lot, so I knew that they didn’t have a lot of depth on their bench. This year, we don’t have the depth that we’ve had the last couple of years, so you’ll see us play a lot more zone in the last three years.”

Whittington on Semones stepping up as a freshman: “Jordon and I talked and she’s really stepped up her game offensively. Teams can’t come in with the gameplan of just stopping ReJayla (Williams) and Jordyn (Cross). Little Jordon’s probably been in double-digits the last three or four games. She’s coming along a lot faster than I expected.”

Whittington on facing a tough slate at the Walk-On’s Invitational: “I told our girls, ‘That shows how much respect (the tournament schedule makers) have for you. You don’t see them putting any other small schools (against the schedule we have). We’re playing two 5A schools and (a good) 2A team. We’re happy about the challenge and we’re going to do what we do best.”

ON DECK

Although New Living Word and University will play each other again Dec. 12 in Ruston, both teams will have some good tests coming up. NLW hosts Saline and Epps next week, and UA travels to Delta Charter before playing Winnfield, Captain Shreve and Ouachita in the Walk-On’s Invitational.